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Barf and Belch is the Hideous Zippleback owned and trained by Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston. Barf and Belch are like their owners, they have trouble deciding which head goes what direction and focusing on one target. However, unlike Ruffnut and Tuffnut, they can work together and find their owners annoying with their constant bickering. Their names were first revealed in Viking for Hire.

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Personality

Barf and Belch have the personality of a normal Zippleback; however, they have a laughable sense of humor. They enjoy doing the tasks Ruffnut and Tuffnut tell them to do, but they are in constant quarrel because of the fact that they sometimes have to listen to two different commands they are unable to do. Despite this, they usually help the Twins with their pranks. Barf and Belch often get annoyed with their riders constant bickering- which once led to them going wandering around Berk after the twins started issuing contradictory commands to each head- but both are willing to protect their riders at any costs. For example, when Torch first approached Tuffnut as an adult, although the dragon only stayed because Belch didn't want to leave him, both were willing to fight what appeared to be a wild Typhoomerang in order to protect him and they left the cave that they were supposed to stay in during Astrid's harsh training session to find Ruffnut whom they felt was in danger. They are very in sync with their riders, mimicking several actions of them, such as their 'high-fives' and affectionate headbutts. They have also been seen fighting at the same time as their Riders are bickering.

Appearance

Barf and Belch have the appearance of a normal Zippleback. Despite the head's resemblance towards each other, there are minor differences that each head has. Barf has a slightly curved horn as opposed to Belch's horn which is straighter. Barf's longest teeth are in the back of his jaw and Belch has his longest teeth in front of his jaw. Barf's skin is also slightly more lighter than Belch's. The skin color and tooth differences disappear by the time of the second movie (from what has been seen in images, this is most likely a production goof). Barf and Belch are 66ft long, have a 38ft wingspan and weight about 6,036 lbs.

Background

Barf and Belch were one of the captured dragons used to train the Viking Teens. The lesson they taught was to work together to find the head that lit up the gas (which was Belch). Later, Hiccup manages to get Ruffnut and Tuffnut to bond with them in time to help defeat the Red Death.

At the climax of the film, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, along with the rest of the Viking's teens, were on dragons. They helped the twins distract the Red Death to allow Snotlout and Fishlegs to attack them. By the end of the movie, the twins are seen riding Barf and Belch along with the other Viking Teens.

It was revealed in the show that the left head's name is Barf and the right is Belch, with Ruffnut commanding Barf while Tuffnut controls Belch.

Barf and Belch were then framed by Mildew of the crime of stealing all the boots of the village during "boot night," sleeping in a bed of boots. They are then proven innocent by the comparison of their tracks and the tracks at the scene, noting how their tracks are deeper.[1]

Barf and Belch briefly went rogue after Ruffnut and Tuffnut's conflict with each other reached a point where they were issuing contradictory orders to the head they controlled. The Zippleback was roaming around the village just as renegade Viking chief Dagur the Deranged arrived to discuss a treaty. Wishing to sign the treaty in dragon's blood, Dagur captured and nearly decapitated Barf and Belch, but the twins were able to reconcile in time to help their dragon escape, with the other dragons faking an attack on the training ring to conceal Berk's newly trained dragons in order to avoid provoking war.[2]

Barf and Belch appear in almost every episode, appearing alongside or being ridden by the twins.

They accompany the twins as they attempt to dislodge hidden traps. When Tuffnut is captured, they are ordered by Ruffnut to watch over her brother while she attempts to go get Hiccup so he can free her brother. Although annoyed by Tuffnut's constant efforts to start a conversation with them, they end up playing with him (though Tuffnut didn't enjoy it much). They try to protect Tuffnut when a wild Typhoomerang (Torch) aggressively approaches him. Defending Tuffnut, they are caught in a bola-string trap, but they manage to cause a big enough explosion to start a forest fire somewhere off. They are freed by Hiccup when he arrives on Toothless and they ride Torch. The Zippleback end up helping to put out the forest fire and arrive back home on Berk safely on Torch's back. Later that night, when Ruffnut fails to free her brother from the trap and ends up with both of them being trapped, they leave their riders to bicker to presumably return home.[3]

Barf and Belch help to free the Skrill from the ice block, along with Snotlout and Hookfang. The twins ride them and they help to snuff out the Skrill from the clouds so Hiccup can knock it down. They manage to save Hiccup from being blasted by lightning, although the twins and them end up being chased themselves. Barf and Belch manage to land safely on an outcropping of land in the middle of the ocean and help the twins go after Alvin when they see him collecting the Skrill. Later they are seen on Outcast Island being watched over by Ruffnut as Tuffnut and Hiccup try to gather information about the Outcast/Berserker alliance. They appear again later to help Toothless seal up the hole, trapping the Skrill in ice once again.[4]

They were then seen in the end to both agreed together to separate their riders from fighting each other.[5]

Along with their riders, Barf and Belch assisted Ruff and Tuff in worshiping Loki. During one of their pranks, they found Trader Johann. They then went with the other dragons and their riders to find Dagur at the Ship Graveyard. However, they were then scared off by the eels. However, they then returned to rescue Ruff and Tuff before they fell. They helped their riders in obtaining a Snow Wraith tooth.[6]

They went with their riders to search for Dagur. However, they were then drawn to Melody Island and captured by the Death Song. Luckily were then freed by Hiccup.[7] Barf and Belch also discovered Tuff's new dragon, the Night Terror and captured the alpha night terror, Smidvarg. They then protected him until he was back with his flock[8]. They assisted in relocating a Scauldron from Berk's fishing lanes.[9]

Barf and Belch briefly appear being ridden by their riders, Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Barf in particular shows annoyance and slight aggressiveness when Snotlout approaches Ruffnut to flirt with her. Later on, they were also seen to be very upset about Stoick's death before being controlled by Drago's Bewilderbeast. Like all the dragons, Barf and Belch broke free from the Bewilderbeast's control, and acknowledged Toothless as their new Alpha. They then rejoin back to their owners, with both heads trying to comfort Ruffnut. Belch was rejected by Ruffnut, but Tuffnut quickly grabbed his head to be happy to rejoin together.

Relationships

Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston: They met for the first time in the Arena, where Barf and Belch attacked them just like the other Teens. Later, Hiccup helped the two of them to train Barf and Belch, forging a strong bond between the two. In the TV Series, not many episodes are focused on the relationship between these three. However, it can be assumed they care greatly for one another. The Twins were bickering over who Barf and Belch belonged to. When they couldn't get to an agreement, they both decided to stop with anything Dragon or sibling related. However, when the gang told them Dagur wanted to decapitate them in order to get their blood for the treaty, they were determined to save them. Tuffnut claimed Barf and Belch is his 'totally awesome dragon', which he shared with his 'totally not-awesome sister'. Tuffnut once commented that he hated smart dragons, which is why he loves Belch.

Hiccup: Hiccup met for the first time in the Arena, where Barf and Belch were in front of him about to attack him, but they were afraid of the eel that Hiccup use as his defense against them. Using this eel to bring them back to their cage. Hiccup even tried to protect them from Dagur by hiding the Zippleback, but they wouldn't listen to him much at all. Hiccup was also able to get on both of their heads to free Tuffnutt from the dragon trap, but he was unsuccessful in doing so. As Hiccup with help of Toothless to save their life from falling off the cliff from they show huge amount of loyalty to him by offering fish and willing to protect him from harm. Until they return their settle the deal by saving his life from harm.

Hookfang: Hookfang and Barf and Belch have been seen fighting several times, though with unknown reasons. Nevertheless, they have a good friendship with one another. Though the owners had stated that Barf&Belch have been coming in close to save their owners lives since they hanging around with Hookfang to munch.

Toothless: Toothless mostly interacts with Barf and Belch by trying to stop them from doing something wrong. By biting on their tail when trying to make them stop misbehaving when Dagur was in Berk or stop them from chasing after the Dragon Root. Barf and Belch are shown to have respect to Toothless when getting saved from falling off the cliff as they are shown to give fish and lick him, and help him to save Hiccup from the logs. Near the end of How to Train Your Dragon 2, Barf and Belch acknowledged Toothless as the new Alpha dragon.

Dagur the Deranged: When Dagur came to the Isle of Berk to sign a peace treaty with Stoick, he claimed they needed Dragon blood in order to sign it. This lead them to hunting Barf and Belch. Though Dagur tried to decapitate them, Barf and Belch escaped and defeated him with the aid of the other Riders and their Dragons. Barf and Belch later assisted Toothless in defeating Dagur's Skrill, trapping it in the ice once again. They also defeated Dagur again three years later when he kidnapped Hiccup from Dragon's Edge.

Snotlout Jorgenson: Snotlout shown to be bit thankful for this dragon to be saved when jumping off from the Red Death. He even try to ride on Belch but he thought it was crazy dragon wanted to get off his neck. Also try to save this dragon from Dagur but he still believed that Dagur was still cool guy, which Barf and Belch dislike what he said and attack him. Snotlout was even losing his dragon from believing to fall in love with another dragon as he commented this dragon to have two heads meaning not his type of dragon to be with but he was proven wrong when he temporarily had great relationship with Barf and Belch by blowing things up with the help of Tuffnutt.

Meatlug: Meatlug was head-butted by Belch when they didn't have their owners for while. But they have shown to like her when Ruffnut got married to Fishlegs by accident as they nudge her, thinking they're going to be happy family.

Abilities and Skills

Barf and Belch seem to have the normal abilities of a regular Zippleback, although some of their abilities and gain skills are heightened due to training under Ruffnut and Tuffnut.

Strength: Barf and Belch are seen to be able to lift up heavy objects with their claws. Both claws can lift up a weight of two heavy grown adult Vikings. They didn't budge when Toothless tried dragging them off the roof and they can carry heavy Vikings on their neck, like Fishlegs. Barf and Belch have strong jaws, but can hold back their full strength.

Head-butt: Thanks to their long necks, Barf and Belch retract their heads then slam them into their opponents. They also use this to play "Bat the Nut," which is knocking their Riders back and forth while thy dangle from ropes.

Agility: This is seen in the battle against the Red Death, when they manage to avoid sudden bursts of fire. Despite claiming that Zipplebacks are bad fliers, they are surprisingly agile. They have a very flexible body, but they can tangle their neck by accident.

Speed: Barf and Belch have the speed of an average Zippleback, but they were also able to catch up with the Skrill, although the Skrill had been slowed down slightly by Stormfly and Toothless. Their speed was shown to be able to catch up Toothless when following their hero Hiccup.

Gas and Spark: Barf is able to breath a large amount of green gas. This gas confuses and disorients people, with the exception of the Thorston Twins. Belch is able to release an electric spark. When combined, they can make a large explosion. There are able to use this to make protection for Astrid and Stormfly. Their fire seems to burn on ice without melting it.

Stealth: Barf lets out a green, thick gas, which they use in order to hide. From there, they sneak up on unexpected enemies or prey, attacking them.

Intelligence and Communication Skills: They always know when their riders have gone too far in fighting and often take charge if they are in trouble. But, like their riders, they often fight with one another. Despite having learned hand signals, they occasionally misunderstand it. Like all Academy dragons, including Torch, Barf and Belch are trained in the basics of hand signals. Although, Barf will only obey Ruffnut's hand-signals and Belch will only obey Tuffnut's hand signals, though at first it was hard for them, but their trainers finally work as team to become successful against their enemies. They also are able to send out distress signals. They have even thought of their own plan on how to save Hiccup and Toothless from the Outcasts by releasing out large amount of gas to spark it as to hold them long enough for Hookfang and Stormfly to save them as their owners were in shock of seeing this on their own.

Endurance and Stamina: Endurance and stamina, as was demonstrated several times shown to be good for their kind. They are shown to still get up after getting hit by the Skrill and Night Fury combination attack from falling in high speed on sea stack to be able to fly well. Even got back on their feet from getting hit by Typhoomerang from a distance.

Stone Carving: As shown in Crash Course, Barf and Belch have been trained to gas and spark certain areas in rocks, carving faces and other objects into rock walls.

Trivia

Barf and Belch were originally supposed to be ridden by Fishlegs, and he briefly rode on Barf after the dragon flew away without the twins, along with Snotlout, who rode on Belch.

While the dragon is male, Barf and Belch are commonly referred to as "them" or "it," most likely due to the two heads being individuals. The only episode where they are referred to as "he" is Dragon Flower.

Barf and Belch are one of the two only known Zipplebacks that has riders, this might be because you need two of them, in this case, Ruffnut and Tuffnut. The other one is the ZipplebackMulch and Bucket owns[10]. This seem to be partially correct, since Hiccup was able to ride Barf and Belch on the back.[11]

In the How to Train Your Dragon movie, when they were approaching Hiccup, Barf and Belch spread their wings and start hissing, which is similar to the behavior of the Dilophosaurus in the movie, Jurassic Park. Barf and Belch are never seen doing this again.

They seem to chase their tails when they are bored.

Although Ruffnut and Tuffnut share Barf and Belch, Tuffnut seems to be closer to both heads overall; when he was briefly trapped with only Barf and Belch for company, Tuffnut expressed regret that he and Barf didn't socialize much, but in How to Train Your Dragon 2 Ruffnut actively shoved Belch away in favor of welcoming Barf back after Toothless defeated Drago's Bewilderbeast, even if she clearly cares about the dragon as a whole as well as an individual.